Its been a while since I have posted an update on the blog, so here is a brief recap of our spring/summer:
- Sugaring was very productive this past March. We managed to make a grand total of 5 gallons of syrup with our mini-arch and 50 buckets.
- Our two ewes birthed a total of 3 very healthy lambs- 2 more females and 1 male. They grew very well over the summer months.
- May & June were VERY wet. Brian Lacoss never managed to get a first cut off our field until mid-July. Things got a little drier through the second half half, but we still got a lot of rain.
- The rain made for a very lousy garden this year- Things that did well were the corn, although late, our pumpkins & Winter squash, and potatoes. Things that did not go well were tomatoes (go figure- we need a greenhouse), green beans (bummer, these are a winter staple for us), and things that like hot weather. We have a so-so harvest of beets & Carrots. Loralee is committed to having a smaller garden next year focused on the basics.
- Timothy and Patrick really enjoyed their swimming lessons at Powers Park- Tim, at six, passed his level 1 test! Patrick, however, is a fearless swimmer in his life jacket.
- I have been working with Wayne Carr on finishing off our basement. Its coming along nicely, but slow going as we are mostly just doing it on weekends.
Our family recently came into a 75-acre woodlot & sugar-woods about a half mile from our farm. Loralee and I are developing a business plan to begin a bigger (although still boutique-scale) sugaring operation. A consultant estimates we can get about 1000 taps, and we will use a pipeline system. Our plan right now is to get the woods cleaned up this winter with some light logging, then run our lines next summer. We will probably just sell our sap for the first few years so as to recoup the initial investment. All that will require some bigger hardware, which brings me to the latest addition to the farm:
